Onward Kashiyama, owner of the J. Press brand, has informed Ivy-Style.com that it has been unable to find a new Manhattan location for the store currently located at Madison Avenue and 47th Street, and will be closing New York retail operations on January 18.

J. Press will be forced to lay off the sales staff, which includes several veterans, the source told us. Ecommerce will continue from out of the company’s Long Island City warehouse, and Onward Kashiyama will maintain its corporate offices in the Fashion District.

Although it has not lost its current lease, J. Press has been forced to vacate the premises as the building’s owner is planning major renovations.

Although J. Press would reopen sooner if it finds a suitable location, it could be as late as spring 2015 until the company reestablishes a retail presence in Manhattan. “The corporate office has not decided the new location yet,” the source said, “so we will be closed a while. They said we will maybe reopen in spring 2015.”

Founded in New Haven in 1902, the company has operated continuously in New York since 1912.

“I am very saddened at the news and regret the situation,” said Richard Press, former president of J. Press and grandson of the company’s founder. — CHRISTIAN CHENSVOLD

Why this is unfortunate news, at least they are closing of their own volition and not due to being priced out like so many other NY institutions have been. Hopefully the long-time staff will be suitably compensated or aided in relocation.

Now, not to sound too ghoulish, but do you know if any more sales will be happening before the shutdown?

I know there was a moving sale (up to 70% off) taking over most of the floor space last week. Overall, though, the pickings seemed more oriented towards York Street wares and a few odd mainline pieces.

Hoping there will be more opportunistic offers before the 18th. That’s how I’m going to mourn.

Thanks Believeland. I also wonder if any of the fixtures will be up for sale? Man, talk about a “grail” piece. Owning a dresser or a wardrobe from the J.Press Madison Ave store. I wouldn’t even know how to hashtag that to brag about it on Instagram!?

Anyone who has the opinion that York Street is merely a forgivable folly, please be advised that its store on Bleecker Street, an insanely expensive retail location, remains open for business–while the real J.Press is forced to shutter. (And if you buy that they just couldn’t find another suitable location until “maybe” 2015, I have a bridge to sell you.) If you don’t think sinking money into hiring GQ-approved designers, opening a store in one of the most expensive locations in New York, and producing sad, scary clothing that can only sell at a significant markdown is at least partly to blame for this atrocity, you’re an idiot.

If you’ve ever been to Japan, J.PRESS is in hundreds of stores and I think they are bringing York Street there to replace the “red label”. York Street has to have a presence in the US and NY in order for it to be successful there. The main J.PRESS label has been failing for years. It’s dated and the brand image has never been updated. Unfortunately, it does not look like management invested in the brand image of York Street. The clothing is great and it could do very well in Japan which is where the real sales are for J.PRESS. The US is just a small market for them.

The whole situation is so sad. It’s still such an iconic brand to so many who cherish East Coast Ivy League style. Yet the company has literally squandered its opportunity to even join in the recent resurgence in classic menswear and the preppy ethos. Whether through indifference or negligence, they effectively neutered this great brand.

Growing up in New Haven, J. Press was the Mecca of classic clothing in which you invested and kept for life. It embodied the “real” preppy world. Now, people only speak of the brand’s greatness and influence in the past tense – including me. The flagship brand is largely static and forgettable (this description being worlds apart from “classic” or “timeless”) and to me, York Street is at best a nice play off the J. Crew/Rugby/Gant/Flatiron schtick, but will do nothing to make the larger brand relevant again.

You can tell that York St is not doing well just by browsing their inventory and sales. They have items that are still in stock from over a year ago. I bought the navy cricket sweater for $65 last year, the same one has been on sale since then, with the sale price fluctuating between 90-125 or so.

They have even resorted to going through Gilt.com to list their products. That shows they are becoming desperate to turn over inventory. Although, I am confused as to why they would list the York St Shaggy Dog sweater on Gilt for a greater price than the sale price on the website.

Bad news indeed, holidays in New York just won’t be the same! The regrettable thing is that when and if they do open another store, the old stagers in there will have moved on, taken other positions, or retired. All that knowledge will be lost.

It’s terrible to see J. Press in this state, but York Street’s goal was always ambiguous to me. It produced clothing in line with Rugby and J. Crew, but at twice the price. It also opened in a year when Ralph Lauren was terminating its own “trendy” line.

I assume that J. Press is profitable enough as a whole for its Japanese owners that the profits from the brick and mortar American shops are largely inconsequential. Still, York Street’s failure will likely continue to drive prices up on the original line as a consequence until the new brand is terminated. I can’t imagine many new seasons for York Street can remain in the works.

If the McNairy and Ovadia choices were not suspect enough, they are displaying Castelberry’s red duffle coat in the window! And they are still getting “PR” services from A Continuous Lean. Who is their lawyer, AEV?

Somebody at J Press corporate needs to shut off the internet and start hiring some professionals.

I recall years ago Alan Flusser’s book mentioning over half of their US sales came from the NYC store. With the New Haven building being torn down you have to wonder what the future is for all of these stores. Were they profitable in recent years? Closing the New York store and laying off all staff is a bad omen. Maybe the Village store will become more JPress now. But it doesn’t sound very good.

There are no “grail pieces” in the J. Press Madison Avenue store. The current location, with all of its freshness and chrome and new fixtures and anything but patinated existence screamed from day-one that it, J.Press, was uncomfortable in its new location existence and rather faking it at best. This store was never J.Press NYC. Press NYC died when they left the old location…patina and grail pieces included. That’s not to take anything away from the legacy salespeople who remain there. They’ve controlled none of this.

The stores, especially the never broken-in, uncomfortable in its own skin, Madison Avenue location are not iconic…especially with the New Haven location being torn down and the Boston location tatty and down as hell on its heels. The brand still holds on to trace elements of its iconic past but with only a few representative crumbs. The flap pocket OCBD and the Shaggy Dog sweater. There’s nothing else in the store that can’t be sourced elsewhere.

The Onward business strategy is stunningly transparent. The legacy brick and mortar (and chrome/glass in NYC) stores in the States have probably not turned a profit in years. They are props. Pure and simple. Props that strategically align with Onward’s need to correlate the Japanese iteration of J.Press with the “authentic American” legacy, courtesy of the original stores. A previous commenter pointed to this as well.

I am very saddened to “hear”, read about this news. During my days at Columbia, and thereafter, I became a patron of the Madison Ave location. The professionalism, knowledge, service was second to none. My experience from that store has made me a lifelong customer, and I wish the staff good luck. Besides the quality of the products, they are what truly made me a J. Press customer.

Just about everything on their Web site is marked down right now, including, last time I checked, all dress shirts and blazers. Some blazers are marked down several hundred dollars. $297 for a J.Press navy blazer seems like a good buy…

Kinda funny about all the Japanese comments. Most of them wrong by all accounts. I was in Japan this fall, and you’d be hard pressed to find J. Press outside of a few large department stores in major cities. There are not hundreds of outlets. They mimic Ralph’s department store presence here. The largest display was next to the FIT Ivy League Exhibit. And that had absolutely no traffic when I visited. The associates seemed surprised to see my wife and I.

The Japanese have long moved from the Ivy Look. I saw well dressed folks, but in nearly three weeks, not one I would describe as Ivy.

This whole Japanese myth seems to be perpetuated by the stark few Japanese print magazines that the iGents post up on the interwebs that deal with Ivy. Free and Easy comes to mind. It’s pathetic and comical how often and to such a largely distorted effect, that the ignorant use Japan as a living example of modern Ivy.

Is the Canadian maker Samuelsohn? I don’t know, I’m just throwing the name in the hopper. But, I thoroughly agree with you about the change around 2006-07. As you say, the shoulders were very structured. I also thought the button stance was really just a two-button cut with the third button simply tacked on. Finally, the cut was slimmer than usual.

Southwick, Garland? Great makers! And there, but for the grace of Mr. del vecchio, go they.

Just thinking about retail generally, these days the motivations, reasons–what have you–that cause a person to choose a certain retailer today over another, are very different than they were two generations ago. People choose retailers today to aid in defining who they are. It was once the other way around: retailers defined themselves by offering what their clients felt suited them naturally.

The story about the lease and renovations doesn’t make much sense. Why would you close for any period of time your best market? I guess if they do start to rebuild in New Haven this year that would be a good sign. If not, that will be a really bad sign.

As far as the current sale in NYC and even some of the York Street offerings – I got an excellent York Street scarf (Elgin of Scotland) in my college’s colors for 70% and an equally classic Fair Isle sweater also from the York Street collection – some of the stuff is awful, but some excellent.

S. Cohen was the Canadian contractor who perpetrated the NFL regulation shoulder pads upon the once natural-shouldered J. Press jackets. Cohen should have subsequently been relieved of their production obligations forthwith, or at least given the direction required to obviate such a major misinterpretation of the core prerequisite of the TNSIL style.

My gosh. J. Press was a little beyond my means when I first walked in with my parents in the early 1970s. The salesmen knew their business. They referred us to the neighboring store. The reversabble raincoats seemed like a bargain to me but my mother (daughter of a dry cleaner) assured me that one fabric would shrink more than the other. I began to shop at JPress in the late 80s. Untill the last couple of years the stuff was a bargain. I think this is the obituary written by a long time customer. I’m not sure whatI the future holds,but the sweaters and the tweed jackets that I have loved all my life will remain a part of my ideal wardrobe.. Shoping at JPress in New Haven for a lot of my adult life has been a wonderful experience. I don’t know where it is going. Like dancing at the Assembly Ball at the New Haven Lawn Club as a Big Band played, I wouldn’t have missed it for the World.

Onward knew from the very beginning( about 4years a go) that the Madison location will be renovated starting 2014….so, why is the excuse that they could not find a location. Numerous real estate developers had contacted them about a location for the flagship store. I know this because I contacted the main office, and they said they are not looking for a location. Furthermore, the employees were given no notice …..

i did the window display for j.press for 49 years.the japanese are nice people but did not have a clue from the start as to how to handle this brand in the u.s.they listened to no advice from us,the insiders,& i guess tokyo was the boss.this demise did take longer than i thought it would.i think this brand did well for over 100 years but the world has changed & a few diehards will not keep this brand in business.

I owned my own clothing company- and rather than retire- worked for J Press for 3 years. I was hired by Jack Kennedy who i had known and liked for many years prior- he bought my product. The man knew Traditional clothing and the J Press customer. When he looked at a line- if he didn’t think it fit the image ( such as pleated pants) no matter how hard i tried to convince- his reply was “isn’t it time for lunch?”

And the salesman- it was hard to start working there- as most had been with the store for years and had tons of “see yous”. But there was great business- and it was fun to create people who asked for me.

In my first week working there- we had 9/11. Men walked up to the store covered in dust- and sat down on the leather chairs in front– in a daze. It was a fraturnity

On Mr Kennedys passing- the Japaneese did everything wrong- and i left. Since then, many professionals were replaced with” bodies.” The inventory looked and felt different to the customer. In the move to Madison- that warm fraturnity turned cold. Managers- instead of backing the troops– turned it into a war zone.

The heart of the store is long gone- and i am sure it is losing a great deal of money. If it opens again- because they are stuck with lease- nothing will change because it seems the owners simply don’t understaqnd the US marked for J Press. It breaks my heart.

I don’t think J. Press cares about the American market. I keep bumping into their stuff every time I’m in Tokyo (our Asian office). They treat it like a cariacature of the real thing. I love to shop Ivy when I’m there but skip J. Press.

The real question is “So?” JPress has been irrelevent for at least twenty years. For the 5 WASPs in NYC still dressing like it’s 1983, the place was a godsend. For everyone else, it was dusty time capsule. Great brands are able to transcend time, and changes in fashion, by caring deeply for, and protecting, their most sacred possession — the marque above the door. Great brands are fungible without being fashionable. Fail to do find that balance, fail to thrive. Closing this store is not a sui generis event, but rather the outcome of compounded failure. And anyhow, if anyone needs a Princeton scarf that badly, he probably did not attend Princeton.

What other store could you walk in and find a wide selection of suits, blazers, and tweeds in a traditional sack cut? Maybe O’Connells, but they are not in NYC.

As pointed out by others, although Brooks Bros may make many of J Press’ offerings, you are hard pressed to find more than an occassional sack suit or jacket there, and it is generally in some kind of Thom Browne tricked up configuration. Yes, there is always made to order, but that is different than OTR and takes time and additonal money.

Maybe the traditional sack suit is officially dead, but that is a shame.

jack kennedy was fired by some exec brought over from paris,france who had no idea what he was doing.jack had been the manager in san francisco when i went out there to do the opening window display & show the new display hire”ivy league”.before this,jack had been a roadman & calif. was part of his trip.before that he was a shoe salesman in the little shoe shop that was part of the york st,new haven store.i went on a buying trip to ireland with jack & can tell you he knew what he was doing.i was also invited to tokyo for a week to see the onward operation.

IN THE OLD STORE- if you were a 38 short- we had tons of suits or sportcoats- and 32 short slacks
If you were a 48 long- same- with long rise odd slacks.
Wasn’t too hard to sell a 39 long multiples when he had so much choice.

And the tweed sportcoats- no one else had them – i remember so many times a customer was down to 3 he loved-and couldn’t decide. Often – he took 2 and sometimes all 3-

The new store- had maybe a third the inventory- with no shorts or longs.

Enough said- it still breaks my heart. Not for what it is- but for what it was !!

“Dusty time capsule”?
Sincerely i do not understand the problem.
From a European perspective a great,traditional menswer shop MUST be a time capsule,like Cilento in Naples (from 1780) or Marinella (from 1914) or Davide Cenci in Rome,or Principe in Florence,or Bardelli in Milan,or Al Duca d’Aosta in Venice,
The matter is another; Is a market for Ivy?
I think yes,a slice of market there is;many peoples in USA and in the world would buy good Ivy league clothes.
So why merely JPress dont’t offer a good,true natural and unpadded shoulder sack,with 3 roll 2 lapels,undarted front two buttons at the cuffs,single hooked vent,and flapped patch pockets for the sport odd jackets?
All in a rational classic fit and cut from British (or british look a like) cloths?
Is so complicated?
And why don’t start a nice and efficent ecommerce to sell Ivy goods to foreign customers?
Leave ephemeral fashion trends,and not chase hipsters and metrosexuals, only and simply sell well made and true Ivy sacks.to peoples that want a Ivy sack or merely a good quality comfortable and nice jacket.
Is so difficult?

It would be interesting to see a smaller, more focused version of J. Press. I mean, something like The Andover Shop or Ben Silver.

To repeat, I just can’t imagine there’s much of a market for traditional clothing among Harvard and Yale alums under the age of 65. (And anyone older is finished with buying clothing, for the most part).

Since one out of maybe (and this is a stretch) 500 American males are into well made, expensive Ivy League clothing, is there a market for more than one J. Press?

sadly-dont think the quality & tailoring were there anymore in the last few years.when i started with press 49 years ago there was great pride in the fit & tailoring.it just turned into another “bottom line”enterprise.there was a tailor by the name of felix samuelson who did the some of the more complicated custom work & ran his own outside tailoring shop & the ready made customer was fitted totally to his satifaction.onward got rid of this shop(got cheaper tailors) & felix was really saddened by the shoddy work of the new arrangement.it took a while but it was the beginning of the end.

The last two garments I purchased at Press that still had what I’d call the “old-time” quality and cut, I acquired about 6 or 7 years ago. They were a McGee Gun Club tweed and a Robert Noble sport coat in a light olive, tight herringbone fabric with a very faint, almost pink, windowpane. Shortly after that the Canadian stuff started to come on line. One of my fondest memories is of going to J. Press for the first time with my dad. Gee, this would be something like 40 years ago. I loved that small, musty old shop on 44th Street.

Land’s End? They have some nice clothes, but recently, the shirt collars are trendy-sized and the worsted wool is paper-thin. I enjoy my older LE clothes, but it’s hard to justify buying many of their current offerings.

As one of the top salesman at J. Press I left in April seeing the writing on the wall getting closer. I was asked time and time again by the buyers, do you think you know more then me. After spending 40 years plus in the business on Madison Avenue. I can finally say YES YES YES YES YES. We were doomed after they fired Jack Kennedy. Harry glad to see your postings also Grant’s postings.

A smaller, more focused J. Press: Might work. Perfect spot would be at the Yale Club, and the rent can’t be too much, given the current cast of characters there. Doesn’t have to be all the big, but big enough for lingering, as was the old 44th St. location. Have a great website, superb customer service, and access to a large warehouse space.

Ok so here’s another fact. The New York store has pushed out or fired half of their staff this year with no regard how important they were to the store. Next they fired a fabulous manager of their Washington Store. Anybody in Onward like to tell their side ? I think not. Please let’s discuss this in an open forum for all to see. Right here.

On a trip to NY last week I was very sad to find the store closed but glad to now read that it will eventually re-open. New York has lost far too many good men’s stores and the merchandise offered at J Press was unique and not to be found anywhere else. Good luck in your move and this former New Yorker will look forward to shopping there once more.

What is all the fuss about? J Press was dead long ago. Everyone in the industry knew and at least 70 percent of the consumers. NY store would have been closed sooner if for not for the lease. Onward knows exactly what they are doing, which is nothing.

What the outrage should be is stringing the employees and customers along with a moving sale until 11 days before the store closing. There was no regard for the employees what so ever and never has been. Shame on having a gathering on the last day. To the employees it felt like a funeral! RIP

Very sad. Jay Walter taught me just about everything I know about real clothes over the last five years or so and even made the tuxedo for my wedding (a beautiful shawl collar). Alan Flusser’s book is a great way to learn the basics, but talking with Jay was a next level experience. Does anybody know how to get in touch with him?

Harry Freund did such iconic, J. Press windows. Harry, if you read this please contact me via Christian Chensvold, this site’s webmaster. We last saw eachother about ten years ago in Greenwich. Cheers!

I bought quite a lot of items at J. Press, from underwear and socks to great sports jackets. A few observations: awkward store design; there was no place to linger and just think. The shirt quality was getting worse over the years, they didn’t have enough material to hang properly, and there major tension between the girls who rang one up and bagged the purchase and one’s salesman.
I just never felt that that store was “my” store.
Doubtful we’ll see J. Press in NYC anymore.

Am I the only one who remembers when J. Press placed the regimental tie info inside each tie for authenticity? Who remembers when veteran French tailor Charles retired from the Cambridge store? Who thought it a good idea to turn 100 plus years of J. Press elegance and refinement into Kitsch clown couture with the York St. Brand? Now, the NY store closes and the online process is creating considerable havoc for folks located outside the eastern seaboard. Obviously, a group of businessmen have bought a brand known for tradition, but choose to disregard what made the brand so popular. Something has clearly been lost in translation gentlemen.

Very sad to the see the store close but it is true that the Madison Avenue location never quite felt like 44th Street. David Wilder was (is) indeed a more than worthy successor to my old friend Mr. Jackson (RIP) and sometimes it’s hard to believe that it’s been 30+ years since I first wandered into the store and (presciently) migrated from the then already fading Brooks Bros. I sure hope a new store opens in Manhattan sometime soon. America remains resilient…maybe Press NYC “will rise again”.

I am just learning of this on April 05, 2014, as I sit in the Harvard Club work room after walking up to 47th and Madison only to find it dark.. Thank god I have hung onto every J Press item I have ever owned since 1968.

This is what happens when you allow the foreigners to take over; have we learned noting since the time of the Late Roman Empire?

This news is a shocking as the “Fall” of Rome in 409 A.D. or the more recent loss of Claremont in 2007.

I wonder why long-time customers were not told of this in advance?

At least we’ll always have (262)York Street (in New Haven, that is)

If Jerry Haber is tuning in, I’m sorry that I could not have said “fair-well” in person. I still have the suit you sold me on March 31st, 2007.

Just heard this news in the course of planning a trip to New York — and hoping there was time to stop in and visit. David Wilder has been fantastic to work with over the years. I agree with others who point to J. Press as the worthy successor to Brook Brothers who lost their way around 20 years ago. Long live the sack suit!

Even though I’m lucky to have a store nearby in DC (and will now start visiting it), I was loyal to the New York store and especially Mr. Wilder. Hoping that when the New York store reopens, he is on board.